Alabama's Senator-elect Doug Jones declared himself "a center-of-the-road" politician who will go to Washington and vote "for the people of Alabama" on issues that reflect the ideology of his state.

In his first news conference since his upset victory in the deep-red state, Jones said he does not share the insistence of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., that Jones be seated before there is a vote on the GOP tax cut bill.

"I think that both [Majority Leader] Sen. [Mitch] McConnell [R-Ky.] and Sen. Schumer are going to end up doing the right thing," he said. "So we'll see how to goes, and I'll go with it either way. I want to get involved as soon as I can, obviously."

Jones said his election does not mean conservative Alabama had changed overnight, insisting his votes will reflect the ideology of his state.

"That's why I ran; I think that's why I won," he said. "I'm a lot more center of the road political figure, public figure. I think people are looking for somebody that can find that common ground, somebody to listen to them."

He added he was not surprised National Republican Senatorial Committee chairman and Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., called for Jones to vote with Republicans in the Senate.

"I would expect a Republican to say that," he said. "I expect the Democrats to say 'I hope he does the right thing and votes for Democrats.' But the people of Alabama expect me to do the right thing and vote for the people of Alabama. "

He also reported he received a "very nice" congratulatory call from President Donald Trump.

"It was a very gracious call," he said. "I very much appreciated it. He congratulated me on the race that we won. He congratulated me and my staff on the way and manner in which we handled this campaign and went forward. And we talked about finding that common ground to work together and he invited me over to the White House to visit as soon as I get up there."